The reason the top iPhones don't feel 'special' is because Apple's business model is to deliberately deny the standard iPhone certain features to upsell to the 'Pro' line rather than putting any effort into actually making them better.

I'm not saying that they are remotely the same but if I had just spent an extra £800 on my iPhone to get according-to-Apple 'Pro-level' features like VRR, 3x Zoom or AOD and I then spied that a £200 Android device had the exact same features (again, not a direct comparison) I would feel a little bit cheated.

Compare this to Samsung's business model: The regular S23 has all mod-cons but then if you upsell to the Ultra line you're getting things like the S-Pen, USB3 transfer speeds, better use of split-display, a 10x Periscope lens and manual camera modes. Samsung spoils its top spending customers.

Apple nails the basics like no other company but has become lazy with its top-end devices, basically because that business model works as they have no iOS-based competition but themselves. But it also wouldn't kill Apple to put in USB-C, 3.0 transfer rates, a periscope lens, manual camera settings, Pencil compatibility or even a mobile version of Final Cut Pro.

Apple customers deserve to be spoilt too.